


One of these things

by peanutfishies



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-26
Updated: 2013-06-03
Packaged: 2017-12-13 01:34:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/818399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peanutfishies/pseuds/peanutfishies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During Stiles's first year of college, he makes a best friend, learns plenty of useless stuff, learns plenty of useful stuff, tries to blend in with werewolves, and falls in love. Twice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Stiles was a werewolf.

He was a pure, one hundred percent werewolf. He looked like a werewolf, talked like a werewolf, he smelled like a werewolf. He was blending in with all the other werewolf freshmen on campus. He was one of them.

“Hi,” a boy said, walking towards him. “You’re probably--”

“I’m a werewolf!” he said quickly. A few people looked his way but most ignored him.

The boy looked a little confused. “Yes, good. My name is Danny and I’m here to help all the first years get to their classes. You looked a little lost so...”

“Ohh,” Stiles said smartly. Stiles’s heart was still beating a mile a minute. Close call. Luckily the other guy couldn’t hear him panicking or... Nope, the guy could definitely hear him panicking. Stupid werewolf hearing. He just needed to calm down. Think werewolfy thoughts. Because he was a werewolf.

Danny laughed. “You were recently turned weren’t you?”

It took Stiles a moment to understand the question. “Turned? Oh, turned. Yeah. Yeah, it was some pretty crazy shit. A werewolf came and was like, ‘grr’, and I was all like, ‘noooo, please don’t hurt me’. And then it, umm, turned me.” Stiles wasn’t actually quite sure how the werewolf changing process worked. Some books said a bite, some said a scratch, some said through sex. The last one sounded like the best method by a large margin.

Danny’s eyes widened. “It happened against your will? Did you report the werewolf to the authorities? That must have been horrible for you. No wonder you’re so nervous! How did you find out about the school then? Who told you about it if not for the alpha who turned you?”

Oh shit. Stiles started backtracking. “Ahaha, no. I was just kidding. Me being a werewolf was fully consensual. Yup, no werewolf rape happened to me. No, I just, umm, turned the way most other people my age are turned. The normal way. Because I’m normal. That’s not to say that I’m completely normal because I’m a werewolf and werewolves aren’t normal. Well, I guess over here, being a werewolf is normal. So I’m that kind of normal. The way everyone here is normal. I’m like you,” he finished desperately.

“Right. Like me,” Danny repeated dubiously.

Stiles gave him a winning smile. He was awesome. Taking drama in high school had clearly been an awesome choice. Pretty soon, he’d be buddy buddy with all the werewolves here and then he could finally prove to—

“Watch out,” Danny said, calmly pulling him away as two gigantic beasts hit the floor in a tumble. They both got up at the same time and started really going at it, snapping their teeth and throwing punches. The bigger beast roared and swiped at the sleeker one but it dodged, using the momentum to bring the bigger one down. The smaller immediately attacked the other one, scratching a thick gash from sternum to stomach. Stiles watched as the wound exploded in red and the werewolf on the floor cried out in pain. Blood splashed everywhere. Oh God, he was going to be sick!

“Danny!” he said urgently, expecting the other boy to be just as horrified to see someone die in front of him. The need to flee was only thwarted by his suddenly weak legs.

Danny was shaking his head, looking straight at the blood-covered werewolf who was smirking(did werewolves smirk?) in victory. “Jackson!” he said sternly. “What have I said about fighting on school grounds?”

The smaller werewolf, Jackson, shook the blood out of his hair and seemed to shrink as he changed into a stuck up looking, blond boy. The other werewolf gurgled on the floor and stayed there. No one made a move to help him. In fact, Stiles saw a girl take out her iphone and take a picture.

He’s dead, he’s dead, he’s dead. The mantra was stuck on repeat. Stiles was too afraid to say anything in case the violent, killing werewolf turned his attention on him. Forget blending in, how was he supposed to survive? Stiles was pretty sure a school fight consisted of a few punches, maybe some hiding behind bleachers, and then detention. No one ever died. He got the sinking feeling that this was like a Hunger Games school where they would kill each other one by one.

Danny was scolding the werewolf in front of him. Jackson, for his part, didn’t look an inch regretful. “He was hitting on my girl,” Jackson said, as if that justified murder.

“One more fight like this and you will get kicked out. I’m done protecting you if you’re going to be like this. I don’t know what your problem is recently. You don’t answer my texts and you just fly off the handle at every little thing.” Danny sounded hurt but Stiles paid them no attention. When it came to hurt, someone kind of had priority. He was big, scary, and dying on the floor.

“Whatever,” Jackson said, shrugging Danny’s hand off his shoulder. “Tell him to not go near my girlfriend, then.”

The other werewolf didn’t look like he was going to go near anyone. Ever again.

“Jackson!” a girl screamed. Oh, hey, the girlfriend was coming. Stiles would take a good look at her(or maybe a small peak seeing how he liked all of his blood in his body, not painting the pavement in gruesome red), and make sure he was never less than five hundred meters from her. Her pretty red hair swayed in the wind as she ran over. “I told you it was ok. You didn’t have to do that,” she said but didn’t sound particularly upset at the dying body on the floor.

Stiles knew that voice.

That was the voice he heard in his dreams every night. There was no way he could ever forget that voice. He glanced up and there she was. The girl of his dreams. The love of his life. His reason to live. And most importantly, his reason for coming to this school. He turned to fully look at the girl.

Lydia.

“Lydia,” he whispered. It came out unbidden and he felt the same way he always did in her presence, helpless and excited.

She turned towards him, as beautiful and perfect as a goddess. She looked at him (oh God, she looked at him) and her eyes were blank. “Do I know you?”

His heart plummeted. He had known, although he had tried to ignore it, that he wasn’t exactly high on Lydia’s list of important people. Suddenly, his entire plan to come to this school and prove to Lydia that he was perfect for her seemed very silly. And then she rocked his world again.

“Oh,” she said, frowning at him hard. “You’re the barista from Starbucks!”

“Yes!” Stiles exclaimed. He was alive again. “One venti fat free, sugar free, double cafe mocha with no whip cream--”

“And a shot of sugar free vanilla,” they finished together.

The look she gave him was fond. In fact, some might even say it looked loving. Love was clearly in the air. There was no one more perfect for him than Lydia. She was gorgeous, brilliant and funny. The plan was back on! By the end of the school year, he’d get Lydia (what was her last name? He’d have to ask her one day) to go out with him.

A growl interrupted his daydreams (Mrs. Lydia Stilinsky, Lydia, Lydipoo, snufflebunny). “Who are you?” Jackson growled and reality came crashing down.

Oh shit. “Me? Oh, me, I’m no one. Absolutely no one!” Stiles laughed uncomfortably, backing into and then hiding behind Danny. “Please don’t let him kill me,” he muttered to Danny.

“If you even go near her, what I did to him,” Jackson nodded to the dead werewolf on the floor, “will look like a walk in the park.” He strode off, pulling Lydia behind him. She didn’t even spare him a wave.

There was a beat of silence while Stiles fought the urge to throw up or run away screaming like a girl. Danny looked to the werewolf on the floor. “Kyle, get up. Stop being pathetic.”

The dead werewolf twitched (Jesus Christ!) and then morosely got up, trying in vain to smooth out his destroyed shirt and revealing a perfectly smooth chest. How was that possible? And then another thought entered his mind. If Jackson tried that with him, there was no way he was getting back up. It was official, his life was over.

***

His first class was completely ordinary one; biology. He had made sure not to take anything really physical or that would require actually being a werewolf (phys-ed, hand-to-hand combat, sniffing out danger 101, that kind of stuff). Using Danny’s simple map, he made it with hardly any issues. Once he opened the door, however, the trouble started. For one, a gigantic werewolf with glowing red eyes greeted him at the door.

“Shit!” Stiles said, falling backwards. He was in the process of doing a weird backward crab crawl when he registered the laughter. “What?” he said when he saw the entire classroom explode into laughter. The next thing he noticed was the lack of movement from the red eyed werewolf. The werewolf in front of the door was fake. It was a completely lifelike model of a werewolf.

“Pussies in the front,” a voice said mockingly amongst the laughing. Stiles looked up and saw Jackson. His day couldn’t possibly get worse. He looked around and there she was, Lydia, looking bored and examining her nails.

Stiles got up awkwardly, trying to play it cool, sneaking glances at Lydia. 

“Hurry up and join the loser table,” another werewolf said as Stiles tried to walk towards the table behind Lydia.

Stiles looked at the teacher for support. “Hurry up”, the teacher said. “Sit down.” He nodded to the broken, vandalised table in the front corner of the classroom. “Anyone stupid enough to be scared of that should sit in the front of the classroom. Learn to use your nose next time.”

“Uhh, yes, sorry. I should. I mean, I will. My nose, ok,” he said quickly.

The professor looked annoyed and then turned back to the student he was having a conversation with. Stiles heard Jackson start talking about how not everyone could be expected to be brave and Stiles fought down the urge to talk back. Instead, he dejectedly made his way to the table in front. There was already someone at the table; a sad looking boy staring at the table morosely. Stiles sat down beside him and gave him a smile. “Hey,” he said softly.

“Hey,” the boy responded.

Encouraged by the boy’s response, Stiles started his rant. “That stuffed werewolf was gigantic. I’m not sure how they didn’t expect me to freak out. Out in nature, I would be the only one to survive, you know. I’ve got good fight or flight instincts, though I do much prefer flight. Not that I’m a coward but I value my life pretty high,” Stiles spoke in a whisper as another student entered the classroom, gave the werewolf mannequin a strange look and then sat at a desk in the back. Damnit, that could have been him, being all cool and sitting behind Lydia.

“I was just preoccupied,” the boy said, defending himself. “There was this girl and I didn’t notice that that thing had no smell,” he whined.

Stiles gave him a grin. “Yeah, girls usually are the reason for all my mistakes too.”

“But she wasn’t just any girl,” he said quickly, as if outraged that his crush could be considered just a girl. “She was the most perfect, amazingly gorgeous girl. And she smiled at me and she had, God, the prettiest eyes.”

Stiles laughed. The other boy had it bad. Stiles was nothing like him because Lydia actually knew him, they were friends, sort of. She had recognized him. He was not as pathetic as the boy next to him, no siree. “I’m Stiles,” he said.

“Scott,” the boy responded.

Stiles felt a little tingle of pride in his stomach. He had just made his first werewolf friend (not counting Lydia because she wasn’t just a friend, she was his future wife). Pretty soon, he would totally be the most popular guy on campus and Lydia would swoon at his feet.

“Alright, lovebirds, class is starting,” the teacher said, interrupting them.

The class exploded in laughter. No wait, forget the class, Stiles didn’t care about them. Lydia laughed. He felt his face go red and saw Scott turn away in embarrassment. They had been sitting pretty close together. He scooted his chair away.

“Mr. Harris, we should be more considerate. I think they’ve just discovered they’re mates,” Jackson said with a completely serious face though his eyes sparked with malicious humour.

“Which one of you will be the one going into heat?” another student asked.

“Werewolves go into heat?” Stiles asked. His neighbour’s cat had gone into heat once. It had howled and rubbed itself against anything and everything until it had finally found a tomcat to alleviate its pain. Stiles had found it hilarious. But he wasn’t laughing now, his mind suddenly filled with filthy thoughts of Lydia, begging, and whipped cream.

The teacher rolled his eyes. “So I guess we are going to go with the assumption that everyone here doesn’t know a thing about werewolf biology.”

Damnit. Stiles had thought he’d have this class in the bag, seeing how biology was one of his fortes. Werewolf biology, not so much.

Stiles spent the next three hours alternating between doodling, falling asleep, and occasionally, whenever he caught the word “mate” paying very close attention. If he forgot the werewolf business, then this was exactly what his father had told him college would be like.

It was boring, long, and tedious.

When the class was over, Stiles felt as if he hadn’t learned anything. On the plus side, he did get Scott’s number and they got pizza together from the school cafeteria for lunch. On the not so great side, Jackson made rude comments and Lydia giggled. Seeing how his expectations had been to get eaten alive by werewolves on his first day, it was pretty tame.

When Stiles got back to the dorm, his roommate was moving out. The boy, Riley, had been pretty neutral towards him when they had first met but was now giving him a disgusted look.

“Let me guess, you heard about biology class?” Stiles said with a sigh. How did news travel so fast? His plan of being the coolest kid at school and wooing Lydia was quickly going down the drain.

“He heard that you were already mated,” Jackson said, strolling into their room like he belonged. “He didn’t want to interfere.”

Stiles glared at him. “I’m not mated to Scott,” he said. It was a lame protest but he really didn’t have anything else to say.

“Speaking of, here’s a roommate request form. I filled it out for you,” Jackson said, giving Stiles the paper. The form was mostly empty except for the slot which asked for the name, Scott’s name was written in, of course, and the reason stated was: Because he’s my mate and I need him to stuff me with cock and fill me up with his puppies.

Riley and Jackson laughed and left the room with the boxes. When Stiles looked around to see if Riley had left anything, all he found was a box of condoms, extra small, on the bed. He sighed, picked up the sheet of paper that Jackson had left him and whited out the old reason. Then he gave Scott a call.

“Hey, Scott, I’m looking for a new roommate...” he said.

“Yeah, same here,” Scott admitted in a hush.

***

Having Scott move in was probably the most embarrassing thing he’d ever done his entire life. There were guys jeering at them in the hallways. Jackson, of course, took pictures so he could post them on facebook. He said he’d call the album their first night together.

Finally, the deed was over and the werewolves in the hall got bored. Stiles lounged on the couch slingshotting the small condoms across the room to try and hit the picture of the penis someone had drew on the wall. 

“This is... this has potential?” Stiles tried out.


	2. Chapter 2

None of Stiles’s other four classes had Jackson in them and were, therefore, a million times better than biology. In physics class, he was completely alone but Scott was in his chemistry class as well as Lydia (without Jackson) and Allison(Lydia’s best friend and Scott’s crush). Lydia was also in both his calculus and algebra class. Pretty soon, a week had passed and he had survived.

Now he had to go back to the dreaded biology class. Scott had left a little earlier, saying that he didn’t want to be seen entering the room together and so Stiles, head down, trying to appear as small as possible came in just a couple minutes after the start of class.

When Stiles opened the door to class and was greeted by the same stupid werewolf, he kicked it. It was an awesome kick, full of flair and youthful anger. He felt very proud of himself for a split second until his weird radar started tingling. It had felt strangely fleshy. Not quite as solid as he would expect a mannequin to feel. And it was making a low growling noise.

He looked up, past the growling fake werewolf and saw that Scott looked panicked. Shit, even Jackson looked a little freaked out. The werewolf turned to look at him. He shifted back into his human form, and Stiles vaguely noticed that he was possibly a 100 on a scale from 1 to 10 in terms of attractiveness. The werewolf was alternating between furious and absolutely bewildered.

Of course he’d end up kicking a real life angry werewolf. That was just his luck.

“Fuck, did he just kick the dean’s nephew?” someone whispered in awe and Stiles felt his heart drop to his toes.

“I—I don’t,” Stiles stuttered.

“Mr. Stilinski,” the professor said, looking as if he was having an internal struggle between wringing Stiles’s neck or groveling for forgiveness to the werewolf in the room, “you are to go to the office, right now.”

Stiles ran.

***

He got there in a hurry, fully expecting the other werewolf to be following him, ready to eat him. He did a quick check of his surroundings and entered the office. A pretty young woman looked at him curiously. “Can I help you?” she asked.

Now that he was here, he wasn’t too sure what he was supposed to be doing. He had the feeling Mr. Harris had sent him away just because he hadn’t known what else to do either. “I’m... here to see Mister Hale?” he said but it came out as a question.

“Just knock on the door,” the secretary said.

Stiles, shaky, knocked on the door.

“Come in,” a man said and Stiles opened the door.

Peter Hale, the dean of the school, looked friendly and inviting. He smiled at Stiles and motioned to the chair with his head. But beneath that calm facade, Stiles knew that Peter was strong. He was the alpha of the area and he had learned enough to know that you couldn’t do that and be weak. What would he do when he heard that Stiles tried to hurt his nephew?

Stiles sat down, legs jittering against the chair. He took a deep breath. “I kicked your nephew and I’m really very sorry. It’s because I didn’t think he was a real werewolf. Not that he’s not tough enough to be a real werewolf. I thought he was a mannequin. He’s so very good looking, you know. So clearly good genes run in the family because you’re sorta hot too, if you weren’t my dad’s age. Not that I’m thinking of sleeping with you. God, forget everything I’ve just said and please just focus on how sorry I am. I won’t do it again. Please don’t have me expelled or... or eat me. I don’t taste good.” Stiles stopped to take a breath. Before he could speak again, Peter had lifted a hand to silence him.

“Mr. Stilinski, right?” Peter said.

“Umm, yes,” Stiles said, unsure.

“How are you finding classes?”

Stiles felt a little wrong-footed. Peter picked up a pad of paper and started writing stuff down. Stiles felt his dread mount. Was this a test?

“I find the classes very interesting,” he said neutrally.

“Good, good. Do you feel you’ve learned a lot more about yourself? That’s why I started this school, you know, to help out people like you.”

“Yes.” Stiles had learned from his father that when being interrogated, it was best to keep his answers short and sweet.

“You know, this is the first school of its kind. Normally, werewolves have to go to college and pretend to blend in with the humans and then their mentor teaches them how to act at home. But since most werewolves are turned at eighteen, and the teenage years are so trying, a lot of werewolves can’t stand the pressure and drop out of college. At this school, you are free to be yourself!”

Peter looked up from his pad when Stiles didn’t answer. He prompted Stiles with an amused smirk and a lifted brow.

“I... Umm. Thank you?” Stiles said when realized he was being expected to comment. Worried that he’d never get to leave, Stiles brought the conversation back to the issue at hand. “So... You’re not mad I kicked your nephew?”

The dean laughed. “I can just imagine Derek’s face. That boy needs to be a little less serious, anyways,” he said dismissively.

“Oh,” Stiles said simply.

“But I’ll definitely be keeping my eye on you from now on. You show potential,” he continued.

Potential for what? Stiles was confused. “Oh,” he said again. He had already stood up, ready to leave this, frankly, very strange conversation. ”Well, I have to go... do... homework.”

“Goodbye, Mr. Stilinski,” Peter said and went back to jotting notes.

Stiles left.

***

“Dude,” Scott said later, when he came back to the dorm after class and found Stiles hyperventilating on the floor. “Why did you kick the alpha’s nephew? You could have been killed!”

“I,” Stiles started smartly. Don’t tell him that you’re not a werewolf. Don’t tell him that you’re not a werewolf. Say that you were distracted. Distracted by Lydia! You were trying to impress Lydia! That seemed sort of plausible, in a death-wishy kind of way, “I’m not actually a werewolf.” Dammit, wrong one!

Scott stared at him, then laughed, then stared at him some more. “What? Really?”

“God, please don’t tell anyone.” Then he realized that werewolf hearing was awesome and anyone could listen in to their conversation. “What I meant was that I’m clearly not a very smart werewolf.”

Then he took out a paper and wrote down ‘I’m human!’

Scott looked at him dubiously, then leaned in to smell him. “But you smell like--”

Stiles covered Scott’s mouth and gestured wildly to the paper. Scott rolled his eyes but picked up the pencil. ‘But you smell like a werewolf’.

Stiles sorted through his suitcase and pulled out the bottle of Eau de Werewolf spray and werewolf body wash. ‘It covers up my human smell!’.

“But why would you do that?” Scott asked in confusion.

“Don’t talk!” Stiles said, pushing the pencil into Scott’s hand.

Scott just lifted up an eyebrow. So Stiles started writing. And writing. And writing some more. He kept on getting distracted by trying to defend himself so he didn’t seem like so much of a creep, stalking a girl who already had a boyfriend.

After a good twenty minutes, Scott had had time to prepare a sandwich for himself, Stiles handed the paper over. Scott skimmed over it for barely a second and grinned. “I knew it was because of Lydia!”

***

“I met Lydia when I was in my third year of high school,” Stiles said softly, remembering just how difficult high school had been for him. “I had no friends. I was just the crazy kid with ADHD. Students mocked me and teachers were annoyed with me. I tried my best but you just...”

“You don’t fit in,” Scott finished. “No, I definitely know what you mean.”

“I wasn’t exactly bullied but it’s like I was invisible. I could spend days with no one talking to me. And then Lydia, she talked to me.” He had been working at Starbucks for only a week and the other staff had warned him about the beautiful girl who came in every morning and threw fits if they didn’t get her order perfectly. She had had a taste of Stiles’s latte and pursed her lips and said “not bad” and Stiles had been floating on cloud nine. And the next time she had come, she made sure it was with Stiles she placed her order. She had remembered him. And liked him.

“Lydia was...” Nice wasn’t quite the word he would use. “I was special to her. Good special, that is.”

Scott grinned. “I normally wouldn’t encourage people to try and date people who already have boyfriends but Jackson is an ass.”

“Right? That’s how I feel! I just need to find a way to make her see me as a potential boyfriend.” Stiles was getting excited. They could come up with a plan together. He loved plans. Planning was awesome. It was the execution that he normally had difficulty with.

“And then you can help me get Allison to go out with me!” Scott added.

“We’ll astound them with our greatness.”

“Yes!” Scott chimed, grinning with excitement.

“This’ll be awesome. And when we get married, you can name your first born son after me and I’ll name mine after you!”

Scott’s smile dimmed a little. “Dude, that’s, like, a little bit much.”

“And we could, maybe, live together with our five kids and your, umm, I don’t know how many kids you and Allison will have. But Lydia, Scott Jr., Raphael, Michaelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo, and I will get the top floor of the house and you and your family could get the bottom. And they could play lacrosse together. We could dress them up in little lacrosse uniforms have them compete! Wait, you should have five boys too so we could have a complete lacrosse team. Not that girls can’t play lacrosse. Whatever, you could get five girls if you wanted. And they could date my five boys!”

“I haven’t even gotten Allison to go out with me, I’m not about to decide the number of kids we’re going to have yet,” Scott said.

“But you are going to name your first born son after me, right?” Stiles asked.

“Yeah, I think we should start with asking them out. Maybe flowers and chocolate?”

“No! I have something better! I have a necklace!” Stiles said rushing to his room to get the gold necklace he had gotten for Lydia ages ago but been too chicken to give to her. It had cost him nearly an entire week’s pay.

“How should I give it to her?” he asked.

Scott was adamant about the flowers and chocolate. “I googled this up. It says you have to go with flowers and chocolate. Maybe because you already have a necklace, you should give it to her with only flowers.”

Stiles nodded. “I should go down on one knee and you could like, release some doves, and I’d have some sappy, romantic violin music playing in the background.” Stiles could imagine it now. He’d impress her with his singing and then turn to give her a smouldering look and say, “Lydia, I love you,” and she’d swoon and they’d get married.

“But how were you going to deal with the whole werewolf human thing?” Scott asked. “I hear that werewolves can’t mate with humans.”

“Well, I’d have to get turned, I guess...” Stiles sighed. This part of the planning was giving him a headache. “I don’t want to worry about that. I just need to stay in this school long enough to get Lydia to fall in love with me and then I’ll break the news to her.”

“Well, we just started the new semester so you have all the time in the world.”

“Not if the dean kicks me out,” Stiles said sadly. “He was writing stuff in this notebook when I went to go see him about kicking his nephew. What if he wrote down that he was starting to have doubts about me? What if he’s getting suspicious?”

“If only we knew what the dean wrote about you,” Scott said.

Stiles’s eyes lit up. “We can find out!”


	3. Chapter 3

“This is a bad idea!” Scott said for the hundredth time. “We’ll both get caught and expelled. My average isn’t high enough to get into another college. The only reason I’m here is because this place accepts all werewolves. If I get expelled, I’m screwed!”

“Just guard the hallway,” Stiles whispered back. “I’ll be back in five seconds.”

It was nearly midnight so the dean’s office was closed and the lights were off. But Stiles was a police officer’s son and therefore had quite a few cards up his sleeves. He had practiced enough times breaking locks of his father’s cabinets to find out secret, confidential information. He picked the lock and was in.

Mr. Hale’s desk and neat and there was nothing on it except for a pen and picture of the entire Hale family, a young Derek was smiling brightly at the camera. Even at that age, Stiles could tell that Derek was gorgeous, the jerk. He picked up the picture, smiling at the carefree smile on little Derek’s face. And then put it down and got to work. He was opening the dean’s desk looking for that pad of paper he had written on. He had just finished picking the lock of the dean’s cabinet when he heard a growl.

“What are you doing here,” someone growled behind him. It was the werewolf from before, the one he had kicked. It was Derek.

Stiles froze, caught between the urge to fight or flight. He took in Derek’s broad shoulders and angry eyes. Next to Derek was a novel, forgotten on the floor. Did Derek hide out in his uncle’s office reading books? More importantly, how long had he been in the office watching Stiles. “I was just leaving,” Stiles said, moving to rush past the werewolf. He was stopped by a solid grip on his arm.

“I asked you a question,” Derek said.

Stiles was great at thinking on his feet. He was a great feet thinker. He just needed to come up with a plausible reason. “I was here... looking for you! And how fortuitous, there you are!”

Derek didn’t look convinced. “And why exactly were you looking for me?”

“To say sorry,” he heard himself say. Once the words were out, it was like he couldn’t stop. “Scott told me you were the dean’s nephew and that you hung out here sometimes and I just wanted to see you because I felt so bad for what I did. And Scott was all like, maybe I should say sorry so I was just looking everywhere for you. And the door was unlocked so I just decided to come in and look for you.” Clearly all of this was Scott’s fault.

“Well, you must have immediately noticed I wasn’t there,” Derek deadpanned. “Why were you at my father’s desk?”

“I wanted to leave you a gift, like a token of my sorriness, and since I didn’t see you here I was looking for some paper so that I could leave you a note and your gift. But now I’ve found you. So that’s even better. I can do the apology in person. So, umm, sorry. Mission complete. I’ll be on my way now.” Stiles turned to leave.

“Wait,” Derek said and Stiles heart sank. Damnit, what more did Derek want? “Where is it then?”

Stiles blinked at him uncomprehendingly.

“You said you brought something for me as an apology,” Derek prompted.

“Did I?” Stiles laughed uncomfortably. “Yes, yes, I guess I did. Well, I brought... Umm, me! Tah-dah!”

Derek stared.

“Haha, no, that was a joke. What I really brought was this...” Stiles fished into his pocket and pulled out the first thing he found and dropped it into Derek’s open hand.

Derek looked at the object. Stiles looked at the object.

In Derek’s hand was the necklace he had bought for Lydia, a gold heart with the words “I love you” engraved on it. Derek lost the angry, grouchy look and Stiles had no word other than flabbergasted to describe Derek’s face. Derek looked at Stiles as if he was nuts. Stiles was feeling pretty crazy at the moment too.

Derek’s confused look turned a little calculating. Then he very clearly gave Stiles a once over. Oh God, Derek thought he was being propositioned. Stiles was so screwed.

“Ok, bye,” he said quickly and this time Derek didn’t stop him when he ran out of the office.

***

“So, how did it go?” Scott asked once Stiles had grabbed him by the sleeve and rushed into the room and shut the door.

“Horrible,” Stiles answered. “It was horrible! My life is over!”

“Oh no, so the dean knows?” Scott asked.

His original mission came back to him. “I didn’t even get to see what the dean wrote about me!” he exclaimed. “Instead, I gave Derek Lydia’s gold pendant. And it was really expensive too. I spent an entire paycheck on that!”

Scott scrunched up his eyes and thought about it for a moment. “But...” he asked. “Why would you do that?”

Stiles could do nothing but bang his head against the wall.

***

Stiles was walking to biology class when he noticed a dark, looming presence waiting by the door. He didn’t really need to go to class, he decided. He could probably afford to skip a class or two. A few boys walked right past the Derek with a polite nod and he didn’t so much as move. Maybe Derek was waiting for someone else, someone who wasn’t him. Maybe he had nothing to worry about at all. He had apologized after all, and given Derek a necklace. Maybe Derek was just...

Derek turned to look at him. Stiles stopped breathing.

“Stilinski,” Derek said and Stiles cursed. How did Derek even know his name? He must have asked someone. Either way, judging by the dark look in Derek’s eyes, he had to get the hell out of dodge.

Stiles backed up until he hit the wall. “Look, please don’t kill me. I said sorry. I am sorry. I will never bother you again. Don’t hurt me!”

Derek gave him an annoyed look. “Stop that,” he said angrily, “you’re being ridiculous.”

Stiles scrunched up his eyes tightly and prayed for the best. He hated physical pain. He was tender and bruised easily. He didn’t care what Derek did to him as long as it didn’t hurt.

“The house at the outskirts of the school campground,” Derek said.

Stiles opened his eyes and jumped when he noticed just how close Derek was to him. “You mean the haunted house?” he asked tremulously. Scott had told him to stay away from that abandoned broken down house because bad things happened to people who entered it. One of the boys swore he had been pushed when climbing up the stairs. Another boy’s shirt had caught fire and he had run out screaming in flames.

“That’s where I live,” Derek said. “I mean, if you ever have anything else to give me, it would be better if you brought it there.” He sounded uncomfortable.

Before Stiles could fully process the entire meaning of Derek’s words, the werewolf was gone.

Stiles stared at his retreating back and was startled into a yelp by Scott.

“What did he want?” Scott said seriously. “Is he upset about the kick?”

Stiles shook his head.

“Was he threatening you? Bullying you? Returning the necklace?”

Stiles shook his head again.

“Stiles, you’re scaring me! You’re never quiet. What did he say to you?”

“Scott, I think Derek was hitting on me.” The words were so ludicrous they made Scott break out into a confused smile. “No, really. He either invited me over to his place, the creepy haunted house by the way, or maybe... Is collecting necklaces and hoping I’ll give him another to add to his collection?”

Scott nodded. “Maybe he’s collecting necklaces.”

Stiles gave him a dubious look. Well it did make more sense than the alternative. “Yeah, maybe he’s collecting necklaces.”

When Stiles walked into class, the table in the front was replaced by a new, cleaner one. The teacher nodded at him and a few of the students gave him friendly smiles. Jackson looked pissed but didn’t say anything insulting.

“Mr. Stilinski,” the professor said, “now that you’re here we can start the class.” And there wasn’t even a hint of sarcasm to his tone. Stiles sat down in his new chair at his new table in his regular spot. Scott’s chair wasn’t new.

***

“That was so weird,” Scott said when class was over.

“I know, right?” Stiles agreed. “I don’t really understand what happened.”

Scott gave him a dubious look. “You seriously don’t understand or you’re pretending not to understand. I think Derek made his intentions pretty clear.”

“I’m not pretending. I seriously don’t... I mean, do you think he likes me? Like, do you think he likes likes me?”

Scott didn’t deign to answer.

Stiles huffed. “Fine, I’ll just have to clear this entire thing up then,” Stiles said resolutely. “And I know exactly when I’ll do it.” He pulled out the piece of paper he had found on the seat of his new chair from his pocket and showed it to Scott.

“Meet me in the music room 10 minutes after class?” Scott read.

“And he has neat, girly writing too!” Stiles complained. Everything about Derek was perfect, including his printing. It really wasn’t fair.

Scott ignored that. “Dude, Derek moves fast! The music room is where people go to make out!”

Stiles suddenly felt hot. Derek was inviting him to some secluded spot so they could make out? Derek and his stupid lips and his stupid face were not attractive at all. Stiles was disgusted. Yes, Stiles decided, he was disgusted. “So I’ll just go there and tell him that there was a misunderstanding. I’m in love with Lydia and I’m also not gay. The necklace was just my weird way of apologizing and I meant it in an ‘I love you, man’ kind of way.”

“Ok,” Scott said slowly. “But what happens if he’s forceful... and like just...” Scott couldn’t continue because all the blood had entered his face, making it beet red.

Stiles could imagine it too. Derek seemed like a very forceful person. He’d push Stiles against the wall and probably kiss him like he was attacking him. Soon, Stiles was blushing too.

“I have to go with you,” Scott said with a stubborn look on his face. “Derek is stronger than you. Like, much, much stronger than you because of your... affliction.”

“Thanks Scott.”

“No, I’m being serious. He could do anything and you wouldn’t be able to do anything. I’m coming with you.” Scott really did look worried which truth be told, annoyed and warmed Stiles’s heart in equal measures.

“I’m a big boy,” Stiles assured him. “I’ll break the news to him, probably break his heart, and then be on my way. It’s not like I don’t know how to get my point across. If he tries any funny business I’ll be screaming rape so loud the entire school will hear and that’s without the werewolf hearing.”

Scott looked worried so Stiles gave him a bright smile. “Just go back to the room. I’ll tell you how it goes. Breaking hearts is tricky business. I’m telling you from experience from the other end. When someone has broken up with me the last thing I want to do is see anyone. It’ll be better if there’s no one there, to see him... You know, in case he cries.” That thought was actually hurting Stiles’s head a little. Derek wouldn’t cry, Stiles was being overdramatic to get his point across to Scott but he still didn’t like the sudden image that had popped into his head of Derek with tears in his eyes.

Looking like he was abandoning Stiles to his death, Scott finally gave in. “You’ll call, right? You’d call for me if something happened?”

“Yes, mother,” Stiles said with a roll of his eyes.

Hesitantly, Scott left. And Stiles was finally free to really start having a panic attack. Derek was in the music room waiting for him. Was Derek going to try to kiss him? Stiles had never kissed anyone before. He had never even fantasized about kissing a guy before.

His heart was beating really hard and most of it wasn’t even fear. It was anticipation.

There was no one in the halls. They would be alone.

He opened the door of the music room.

Allison was waiting for him.


End file.
